US supercar driver Robby Gordon does doughnuts in front of Darwin bar

That's the question being asked in the Top End today after American motorsport veteran Robby Gordon was charged and fined for an impromptu doughnut performance in the heart of Darwin's CBD.

The US racer, visiting the Northern Territory for V8 Supercar weekend, says he took the advice of security guards at a local pub before hopping behind the wheel of a Stadium Super Truck on Mitchell Street in the city's nightclub precinct.

"I've done stuff like this probably two or three hundred times over my career," he told 9NEWS.

"Heck, some cities promote it.

"Unfortunately here in the Northern Territory they frown on it, so it is what it is."

US driver Robby Gordon. (AAP) ()

A Darwin judge fined Gordon $4000 for his "outrageous" behaviour and his car has been impounded for 48 hours under the NT's anti-hooning legislation.